Month: March 2016

Brighton, England, 1811. The beautiful wife of an aging Marquis is found dead in the arms of the Prince Regent. Draped around her neck lies an ancient necklace with mythic origins-and mysterious ties to Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin. Haunted by his past, Sebastian investigates both the Marchioness’s death and his own possible connection to it-and discovers a complex pattern of lies and subterfuge. With the aid of his lover, Kat Boleyn, and a former street urchin now under his protection, Sebastian edges closer to the killer. And when one murder follows another, he confronts a conspiracy that threatens his own identity…and imperils the monarchy itself.

It didn’t seem as fast paced as the first in the series ‘What Angels Fear’ to me, but still a very well written and gritty storyline. Love the characters of Sebastian, Kat and Tom.

I have enjoyed the first 2 books in this series, that I have been out and brought the rest of the series!

Just because she can see the dead doesn’t mean Verity Long wants to spend her days hunting ghosts. Instead, she’s over the moon to land a marketing job at the local bank…until she finds her new boss dead in the vault.

These are really good, fun, cozy mysteries, with a great set of characters, well mapped out plots and well written.

5 Stars*****

*****

Just because she can see the dead doesn’t mean Verity Long wants to spend her days hunting ghosts. Instead, she’s over the moon to land a marketing job at the local bank…until she finds her new boss dead in the vault. Even her ghost friend, Frankie, knows that’s no way to start a career.

Relieved to let the police take charge, Verity steps aside, bound and determined to keep her ghost sightings to herself. But when she learns the main suspect in the murder is a very crooked, very dead mobster, Verity knows it’s up to her to solve the case.

She teams up with her ghostly gangster buddy Frankie, as well as the irresistible and charming Ellis, as the three of them search haunted mob hideouts, hidden passageways, and historic cemeteries for the facts behind the heist of the century—and a modern-day motive for murder.

Too bad uncovering the truth could very well make Verity the next victim…

I love this series created by KJ Charles. So much so that I have started to re-read the series.

She just breathes life into the stories she writes…from the characters she creates and the plots she writes. You open her books and are drawn into her stories, whether it is Regency, Victorian or 20th century England.

Once you have tried The Magpie Lord you will be wanting to read the rest of the Charm of Magpies series.

*****

A lord in danger. A magician in turmoil. A snowball in hell.

Exiled to China for twenty years, Lucien Vaudrey never planned to return to England. But with the mysterious deaths of his father and brother, it seems the new Lord Crane has inherited an earldom. He’s also inherited his family’s enemies. He needs magical assistance, fast. He doesn’t expect it to turn up angry.

Magician Stephen Day has good reason to hate Crane’s family. Unfortunately, it’s his job to deal with supernatural threats. Besides, the earl is unlike any aristocrat he’s ever met, with the tattoos, the attitude… and the way Crane seems determined to get him into bed. That’s definitely unusual.

Soon Stephen is falling hard for the worst possible man, at the worst possible time. But Crane’s dangerous appeal isn’t the only thing rendering Stephen powerless. Evil pervades the house, a web of plots is closing round Crane, and if Stephen can’t find a way through it—they’re both going to die.

Warning: Contains hot m/m sex between a deeply inappropriate earl and a very confused magician, dark plots in a magical version of Victorian England, family values (not the good kind), and a lot of swearing.

From strip clubs, to school meetings, Margie manages to stumble in and out of situations that no sane mother of 2 would normally get themselves into…only Margie could, and does!

5 Stars*****

*****

Things aren’t going well for private investigator and mom Margie Peterson. Her husband, Blake, is claiming his taste for drag queens is “just a phase.” Her first-grade daughter isn’t fitting in at her new posh elementary school, Holy Oaks Catholic School. And her hippie mother has swept into town and replaced the family’s store of processed foods with seaweed snacks. To top it all off, a late-night phone call from her boss, Peaches Barlowe, has pulled Margie into a very strange murder case, one that involves the Holy Oaks headmaster, George Cavendish. Poor man—he just happened to die in a dominatrix’s pink vinyl wading pool while wearing nothing but Aquaman tights and goggles.

As it turns out, there are a lot of people who might have wanted Mr. Cavendish dead, from his bereaved, betrayed widow to the shady owners of the local strip joint. Not even Margie’s best friend, whose daughter didn’t get into Holy Oaks, is above suspicion. Can the overtaxed PI solve the case before things get even weirder?

K J Charles weaves a web of emotional and sexual tension in this Society of Gentlemen novella.

As per usual, she writes a stunningly good story with characters you would like to hate, but end up liking!

A First Class story teller.

5 Stars*****

*****

Passion is on the cards for two reckless rogues as K. J. Charles ups the ante in her Society of Gentlemen series with a sizzling eBook short story.

The youngest son and the blackest sheep in his family, Lord Gabriel Ashleigh never imagined he could sink so low. Though he’s a notoriously bad gambler, he takes on the formidable but strangely alluring Francis Webster, only to lose everything: all his money, the lovely estate he inherited from his aunt, and any hope of future happiness. So it’s a shock when Webster summons him to a private game for a chance to win back his possessions. The stake? If he fails, Ash must surrender his body.

Francis has been waiting years for this moment. At Eton, Ash’s elder brother harassed him relentlessly. Now, consumed by lust and rage, Francis is only too happy to exploit Ash’s foolish indiscretions. But as Francis strips the magnificently built youth—first of his family assets, then his clothes—he begins to wonder whether he’s been plotting revenge . . . or exquisite seduction.

This isn’t my first visit with Noreen Wald’s Kate Kennedy Mysteries…I first read this book about 10 years ago when she published it under the pen name of Nora Charles. She does love using names from famous people, whether real of fictional. 😀

What can I say about my second reading of this book. Only that I enjoyed it just as much as I did the first time. With a great set of characters, a well written plot. A great story teller.

I’m pleased that she has found a new home for her Kate Kennedy & Jake O’Hara books with Henery Press, and they are both very good mystery series for anyone who likes cozy mysteries.

Other books in this series, all out in March 2016.

Death of the Swami Schwartz.

Death is a Bargain.

Death Storms the Shore.

Death Ride the Surf.

4 Stars****

*****

Nestled between fast track Ft. Lauderdale and nouveau riche Boca Raton, the once sleepy beach town of Palmetto is plagued by progress. The latest news has Ocean Vista condo board president Stella Sajak and other residents in an uproar. Developers plan to raze the property and put up a glitzy resort. But when Stella says she’ll go to City Hall and fight this to the death, no one thinks to take her statement literally.

And when Kate begins to investigate the murder, she discovers that this little corner of the sunshine state is cursed with corruption, unsavory characters, and a very dark cloud overhead.

This is the first in the Jake O’Hara Mysteries, with 4 more in the series all coming out on the 1st March 2016.

This was a fun cozy mystery set around ghostwriters, the people who actually write the books but get no credit for them. Makes you wonder on who wrote what books, and who had ghostwriters do the job for them in today publishing world?!

Very tongue in cheek humour, with the author using bits of famous peoples names to populate her book, like…Jake christened Jacqueline Grace O’Hara (Jacqueline after Jackie Kennedy and Grace after Grace Kelly & O’Hara after Maureen O’Hara) and her mothers name is Maura.

Great set of main characters. Well plotted, with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing until the end.

Would like to read the rest of this series.

4 Stars****

*****

With her books sporting other people’s names, ghostwriter Jake O’Hara works behind the scenes. But she never expected a seance at a New York apartment to be part of her job. Jake had signed on as a ghostwriter, secretly writing for a grande dame of mystery fiction whose talent died before she did. The author’s East Side residence was impressive. But her entourage-from a Mrs. Danvers-like housekeeper to a lurking hypnotherapist-was creepy. Still, it was all in a day’s work, until a killer started going after ghostwriters, and Jake suspected she was chillingly close to the culprit. Attending a seance and asking the dead for spiritual help was one option. Some brilliant sleuthing was another-before Jake’s next deadline turns out to be her own funeral.